Is this war just or unjust? - with Jeff McMahan

Explaining Ukraine

There is a long intellectual tradition of studying the moral character of war. One of the key questions of this tradition is whether a war is just or unjust. What elements of this philosophical tradition can we apply to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to Ukraine’s resistance? Our guest today is Jeff McMahan, an American moral philosopher, and author of books such as "Killing in War" and "The Ethics of Killing". Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one Ukraine’s largest media NGOs. Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: [email protected]. This episode is produced in partnership with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tartu, which recently published a special issue of their journal on the Russia-Ukraine war.